Unused content (SSBB)
The following are beta elements found in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Beta gameplay
Some of the series symbols were initially the same as in the previous two games, but they were revised as time went on; the Mario series mushroom icon was refined and given spots, the Poké Ball icon has the top half colored in to properly represent how it is usually red, the Screw Attack icon was given more bends and another outline, and the Yoshi egg's angle was changed, with a slightly different arrangement of spots.
Multiple attacks were also changed between the game's development and release. Kirby's Hammer move is an example; when he uses hammer in mid-air in SSBM, he does a vertical spin, but in SSBB, he does a horizontal spin. In the first trailer, released at E3 and included on the game disc, features him doing the former. Unused animations also exist on the disc showing Kirby walking with the hammer still out, along with an animation of him swinging the hammer; this has been taken as a sign that the hammer Kirby uses was meant to be charged.
In the Nintendo World 2007 trailer, when Fox appears, he has his Blaster in his hand during the whole battle despite the fact in the final release he only uses the blaster when using his standard special move; additionally, animations left in the game data show both Fox and Falco inspecting the environment before putting their blasters away.
Another early element is Link's Spin Attack. In the first and second trailers, it's given the appearance that there are two strikes on top of each other; in the final game, however, there is only one strike. The early Spin Attack also lacked the red overlay on the slashes.
Pikachu's Quick Attack was also altered; in the first trailer it's shown doing 2 "bip" sounds when he gets teleported, however, in the final version the sound from the move is different, and it only makes one sound, on the first teleport.
Snake, in particular, had many differences from the final product. For his grab, in some early pictures, he's shown grabbing some characters with more accuracy than in the final version. One picture shows Snake grabbing Ike from his right arm and mouth, but in the final version his grab move is shown with less accuracy, with every character being grabbed by the head. Snake's mines also were considerably more realistic-looking, sporting a drab, dark grey-green look instead of the light grey seen in the final game.
In trailers, characters were also shown to be KO'd via the colourful explosion when they crossed the upper blast line. In the final game, normal characters can only be KO'd this way in the Subspace Emissary.
E for All 2007 had a playable demo of Brawl available. This demo was lacking several starter characters: Kirby, Zelda/Sheik, Pokémon Trainer, Ice Climbers, King Dedede, Wario, Olimar, and Lucas are all starters in the final game, but were unavailable in the demo. The demo did, however, allow Sonic to be playable from the start.
By examining the textures of certain characters, it is shown that visible battle damage was at one point planned to be in the game, as evident by such unused textures as a Meta Knight mask texture with large gashes over his helmet and a cracked visor for Captain Falcon.
There also exists some unused Palette swaps for characters on the game's disc. One such unused costume was a blue-coloured Luigi, under the name FitLuigi02.pac/.pcs. Unusually, this costume has its shadow model integrated into the model itself as a polygon, rather then having it as a separate model.
Early artwork of Pit.
An earlier version of the character stock icons.
Kirby using his forward special from Melee on Halberd in the E3 2006 trailer.
Kirby walks around with the hammer...
...and stops to swing it.
Link's Spin Attack is considerably more slanted, and has no red effects to it.
Fox with his Blaster in his hand, as seen in the E3 trailer.
Early screenshot showing Fox with his Blaster in hand.
Fox and Falco look around before holstering their weapons.
Snake's original down-smash mine.
Snake has a considerably different grip on Ike than in the final game.
Mario and Link are KO'd, leaving behind a colourful explosion, which doesn't occur in ordinary gameplay.
The E for All 2007 character select.
Meta Knight with a cracked helmet.
Captain Falcon with a chipped visor.
Luigi's unused blue palette swap.
Beta stage design
Screenshots of early stage design are more difficult to find for Brawl than Melee.
Similar to the early screenshots for Melee, the initial Pokémon Stadium 2 had no graphics on the screen in the background.
Shadow Moses Island also had an outdoors area; while Snake can briefly be seen in it from the Nintendo World Report 2007 trailer, it can only be seen via hacked cameras in the final game.
In the E3 2006 trailer, Snake's Cardboard Box can be seen in the background of the stage when the Nintendog appears; this does not occur under normal circumstances in the final game.
A scene from the 2006 trailer. Notice how Snake's box is located at a normally inaccessible part of the stage.
Notice how the jumbotron behind Pokémon Stadium 2 is blank, while in the final that never happens during normal gameplay.
An early screenshot of Shadow Moses Island, depicting a location inaccessible in the final.
Beta single player elements
Multiple scenes in the Subspace Emissary were cut due to time constraints, which leaves some parts of the story out; however, an update on the DOJO!! explained these removed cut scenes. Among the explanations include how the Subspace Army takes over the Halberd and King Dedede unintentionally stalls Meta Knight from preventing it from happening.
A TV spot for Brawl also shows Mario instead of Kirby fighting Petey Piranha.
The font for enemies in the developing Subspace Emissary was slightly different and considerably more spaced out. Additionally, a early screenshot of "The Battlefield Fortress" shows a considerably less overcast and brighter sky.
A early classic mode screen appears in the ISO file as well. Unusually, it uses a sound effect from Melee.
The Pokémon Trainer has unused jumping, falling, and landing animations that one can presume were intended to be used for traversing stages. In the final game, he simply Space Jumps when his Pokémon gets too far offscreen.
A less gloomy version of Battlefield Fortress.
Unused jump animations for the Pokémon Trainer.
Scrapped characters
Multiple unused character data files were found in the disc. Sometimes colloquially referred to as "The Forbidden Seven", they consist of:
- "dixie"
- "dr_mario"
- "mewtwo"
- "roy"
- "Pra_Mai"
- "toon_sheik"
- "toon_zelda"
The characters are believed to have been meant for inclusion, but were later scrapped. In the case of Dr. Mario, Roy and Mewtwo, it's also believed that the data could have been imported from Melee, though both Roy and Mewtwo have unused fanfares in Brawl. Dixie Kong is another character from the Donkey Kong series, and Toon Zelda was to be based on a cel-shaded Zelda from The Wind Waker, similar to Toon Link; as a cel-shaded version of Sheik has never appeared in the Zelda series, it is unknown how she was to be implemented. The identity of "Pra_Mai" is unknown; two common theories state that Pra_Mai is the data for the Random Box on the character select screen, as its name in Japanese loosely translates to "Every Player", or that the data is for the Pokémon characters Plusle and Minun, as their Japanese names are Prasule and Mainun. Roy's identity has also been debated; while frequently speculated to be the Fire Emblem character, others claim that the character could represent another character named Roy, such as Roy Campbell or Roy the Koopaling.
The inclusion of the character files led to the formation of a rumor that was later proven false.
Data for an unused Ridley assist trophy also exists; it is believed to have been scrapped in favour of a boss version of Ridley. [1]
Beta names
Wario Bike, Drill Rush, Summit, Halberd, Rainbow Cruise, and "Flower Blooms in the Echoes" were originally called Wario Chopper, Triple Dash, The Summit, Battleship Halberd, Rainbow Ride, and, "Flowers Bloom on the Notes" respectively. It's unknown why they changed these names, although they likely changed Rainbow Ride because it was a Melee stage that had been misnamed "Rainbow Cruise" in that game (although it remains "Rainbow Ride" in the PAL regions, again because it was called "Rainbow Ride" on the PAL version of Melee).
Also, the description for the My Music options originally said, "Adjust how often a song will appear on this stage." It has since been revised in a general tone to say, "Adjust how often songs appear on stages." Along with this, one piece of music that was planned for the Delfino Plaza stage was later moved to Luigi's Mansion, that track being Castle / Boss Fortress (Super Mario World / SMB 3)
Finally, one minor change was made to the Friend roster before release. In a pre-release version of Brawl, the friend roster would display friends as "on-line" and "off-line", but in the final release, the hyphen was removed. This meant that the friend roster would instead display friends as "online" and "offline".
An early version of Delfino Plaza's My Music with a track later moved to Luigi's Mansion.
An early version of the sticker album.
An early version of the Friend roster.
Scrapped Masterpieces
In all versions of the game, a Masterpiece of Donkey Kong Country was to be included. It is believed the game was not included due to rights issues; Donkey Kong Country was initially made by Rareware.
In the American and PAL versions, Masterpieces featuring Fire Emblem: Monsho no Nazo and EarthBound are believed to have been planned to be included, as their data is found on the disc. Another theory, however, is that the games were simply leftover data from importing the data of the Japanese version.
Scrapped music
Within Brawl's game data, many unused and empty music files have been found on the disc. The reason that they were removed is unknown, though speculation has it that some tracks removed due to copyright issues, limited space, or simply personal preference by the developers.
All track files in this list are empty in the disk; as hackers are unable to play the songs, the identity of each individual file can only be guessed based on its filename. In some cases, this can lead to ambiguity on what the song is.
| File Title in Brawl’s code | Category (based on prefix) | Song Identity Theories |
|---|---|---|
| snd_bgm_A11_MLRPG02 | Mario | Unknown song assumed to be from Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. |
| snd_bgm_A12_MORINOKINOKO | Mario | Japanese translates to "Mushroom Forest"; 'Due to its position in the list, which follows a general chronological trend, it is likely this track was the theme for Toadwood Forest, also from Partners in Time. It would have been yet another theme for the underground version of the Mushroomy Kingdom stage. |
| snd_bgm_C06_KAZENOSAKANA | The Legend of Zelda | Japanese translates to "Ballad of the Wind Fish", a notable song from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, as well as an unrelated song from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. |
| snd_bgm_E04_COOKIE | Yoshi | Unknown song assumed to be from Yoshi's Cookie. |
| snd_bgm_G06_COMMAND | Star Fox | Unknown song assumed to be from Star Fox: Command. |
| snd_bgm_J01_STAGECHANGE | Fire Emblem | Stage change background sounds for Castle Siege. Others hypothesize that it may be a stage transition theme from a Fire Emblem series game, similar to "Preparing to Advance". |
| snd_bgm_J05_ERABARESHI | Fire Emblem | Hypothesized to be a shortened form of the Japanese "Erabareshimono" which translates to "Chosen Ones", a song from Fire Emblem: Monshō no Nazo. |
| snd_bgm_K02_SENTOUONIISAN | Mother | "Sentouonii-san" is the Japanese name for the New Age Retro Hippie, an enemy from EarthBound whose battle theme is similar to one from Mother, where a similar enemy also appeared. |
| snd_bgm_K03_EIGHTMELODIES | Mother | "Eight Melodies", a term describing two different songs: one from Mother and one from EarthBound. |
| snd_bgm_K04_SMILEANDTEARS | Mother | "Smiles and Tears", the ending song from EarthBound, which is based on the game's "Eight Melodies". |
| snd_bgm_K06_BECAUSE | Mother | Hypothesized to be "Because I Love You", a song from EarthBound. |
| snd_bgm_M14_WARIOSTAGE | Wario | Song of unclear origin in the Wario universe. |
| snd_bgm_N04_RADIOTAISO | Animal Crossing | The Japanese "Radio Taisou" translates to "Radio Exercises," a song from Animal Crossing. |
| snd_bgm_Q03_SPORTSMEDLEY | Miscellaneous songs | Likely a medley of songs from the generic sports titles on the NES, such as Soccer. |
| snd_bgm_R01_WILDTRACKS | Miscellaneous songs | Japanese name for the game Stunt Race FX, so it is hypothesized to be a song from that game. |
| snd_bgm_S01_MAINTHEME | Metal Gear | Likely the Main Theme of a Metal Gear Solid game (as it is in the category with other Metal Gear universe songs). |
| snd_bgm_S09_BEATMANIA | Metal Gear | Hypothesized to be Metal Gear universe music from Beatmania. |
| snd_bgm_T04_HOWTOPLAY | Super Smash Bros. | May have been a duplicate file of the "How to Play" music. |
| snd_bgm_U05_UCANDO | Sonic the Hedgehog | Likely a truncated form of the title "You Can Do Anything", a song from non-American releases of Sonic CD. |
| snd_bgm_W22_DX55 | Super Smash Bros. | A removed track from Super Smash Bros. Melee -- the 55 may suggest that it was a rip of the Melee version of "Menu 2," song #55 in that game's Sound Test. Others hypothesize it to be one of the other songs from Melee to not be present in Brawl, such as Fourside or Yoshi's Story. |
| snd_bgm_X12_SIMPLEINTRO | Super Smash Bros. | Classic Mode Introduction |
| snd_bgm_X14_ENDING | Super Smash Bros. | Classic Mode Ending |
| snd_bgm_X24_HOW2PLAY | Super Smash Bros. | How to Play |
Along with the above music files, the following unused songs were also found in the data, intended for use in the Subspace Emissary:
- snd_bgm_Y06_ADV06
- snd_bgm_Y12_ADV12
- snd_bgm_Y18_ADV18
- snd_bgm_Y19_ADV19
- snd_bgm_Y20_ADV20
- snd_bgm_Y21_ADV21
- snd_bgm_Y22_ADV22
- snd_bgm_Y23_ADV23
- snd_bgm_Y24_ADV24
- snd_bgm_Y25_ADV25
- snd_bgm_Y26_ADV26
- snd_bgm_Y27_ADV27
- snd_bgm_Y28_ADV28
- snd_bgm_Y29_ADV29
- snd_bgm_Y30_ADV30
It is unknown if they were meant to be used as background music, or as fanfares.
Scrapped trophies
Some characters have unused trophies with "R2" in the filename, showing them in various poses (most in possible gameplay poses, some not). It is possible that these were intended to be a third trophy for each character, similar to how every character in Melee has three trophies, and the concept was scrapped for an unknown reason.
Donkey Kong Jr.
Dread Kong, an enemy from DK Jungle Beat.
A party monkey from DK Jungle Beat.
- Samurai Goroh UnusedTrophy Brawl.png
Samurai Goroh
Scrapped victory themes
Among the unused music files are various victory themes that are specifically attributed to one character, leading some to believe that most characters were to have an original flourish. In the final product, only Meta Knight has a different fanfare than other characters of his universe.
Of note is that two of these unused fanfares, snd_bgm_Z38_FMYU2 and snd_bgm_Z39_FROY, refer to two unused character files in the game.
The files are as follows:
- snd_bgm_Z09_FLUIGI
- snd_bgm_Z12_FKUOPA
- snd_bgm_Z13_FPEACH
- snd_bgm_Z14_FZELDA
- snd_bgm_Z15_FSHEIK
- snd_bgm_Z19_FFALCO
- snd_bgm_Z20_FGANON
- snd_bgm_Z24_FZEROSAMUS
- snd_bgm_Z26_FLUCAS
- snd_bgm_Z27_FDIDDY
- snd_bgm_Z28_FPOKETRAINER
- snd_bgm_Z32_FDEDEDE
- snd_bgm_Z33_FLUCARIO
- snd_bgm_Z34_FIKE
- snd_bgm_Z37_FPURIN
- snd_bgm_Z38_FMYU2
- snd_bgm_Z39_FROY
- snd_bgm_Z41_FTOONLINK
Along with this, there are two other unused fanfares, snd_bgm_Z52_JCLEAR1 and snd_bgm_Z53_JCLEAR2; their intended use is unknown.
Scrapped enemies
Amongst text data for enemy names, a few unused names exist, implying enemies that were cut. These names are:
- Melorin
- Mechaboom
- Bublit
- Blowm
- Plowm
- Aliians
- Aliian
Mizzo is also included in this list.
